• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 07:32
CEST 13:32
KST 20:32
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2914Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
PIG STY FESTIVAL 8.0! (13 - 23 August)7Neeb returns to progaming; rejoins ONSYDE14Weekly Cups (July 20-26): Early returns on 5.0.16b8IntoTheTV X SOOP SC2 League : Weekly & Monthly5Clem: "I don't have that much hope in Blizzard"9
StarCraft 2
General
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) Neeb returns to progaming; rejoins ONSYDE Clem: "I don't have that much hope in Blizzard" Weekly Cups (July 20-26): Early returns on 5.0.16b Terran or Protoss
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 8.0! (13 - 23 August) IntoTheTV X SOOP SC2 League : Weekly & Monthly Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 536 Railroad Switch The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 535 Assembly of Vengeance Mutation # 534 Burning Evacuation
Brood War
General
BW Drama: Terror's Debt Incident + C9 disbanding BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Making an Online Broodwar Manager Game ASL22 General Discussion
Tourneys
Escore Tournament - Season 3 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues 2v2v2v2 Tournament Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Simple Questions, Simple Answers PvT advise for noobs
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile ZeroSpace Early Access is Now Live! Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish TSM pausing esports and CLG Dead
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Power Rank NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Artificial Intelligence Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread How to buy a book - shipping from Korea to Europe
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread 2026-27 Football Thread placeholder TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop
TL Community
Northern Ireland Global Starcraft The Automated Ban List
Blogs
What is a Gamer?
TrAiDoS
Hello guys!
LIN1s
ASL S22 English Commentary…
namkraft
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 4928 users

[D]SC2 Notes: The Sangate PvZ

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-29 08:02:25
December 29 2013 07:33 GMT
#1
Apparently San nearly won IEM Singapore on the backs of hundreds and hundreds of zealots warping in and slaughtering millions of zerglings. Specifically, he used a special 4-gate rush to easy win half a dozen games. Unlike the more common zealot pressure builds that hit at 7:00 with 3-4 gateways, San's build hits at 6:15. Let's take a look at why San is being called "The Zealot King".

VoDs:

San vs. EffOrt G2 on Bel'Shir Vestige
San vs EffOrt G3 on Akilon Wastes
San vs. Hydra G2 on Polar Night
San vs. Hydra G3 on Whirlwind


[image loading]
ZEALOTS TROLLOLOLOLOLOLOL



Build Order:
9 pylon
12 gate
15 gas
16 pylon
18 core
18 zealot
22 *probe scout*
23 warp gate
23 nexus
23 MSC (chronoboost)
25 pylon (at natural)
**Chronoboost warp gate nonstop**
26 gateway x2 (4:35)
27 sentry
30 gateway (5:00)
31-32 proxy pylon
@6:00 warp in first round

First 4 zealots hit @6:15
Hide probe after initial pylons


The single most important thing to note is that San gets an early gateway on 12 (instead of 13) and gets a late gas (on 15 instead of 14). The early gate is to allow him to get warp gates 15 seconds faster; the later gas is simply an adjustment to make up the mineral economy he lost with getting an earlier gate (and besides, he doesn't need that much gas early on). Most players normally build the zealot and cancel it if they don't see early lings or a proxy hatch or let it finish and use it to scout instead of a probe. San always lets the zealot finish while still probe scouting. This is because the zealot is very important in escorting the proxy pylon probe across the map.

The initial probe scout simply checks to see if there is a natural and if the zerg took an early third or not and then hides somewhere on the map. If this probe is not found, San will use it to build a pylon instead of escorting a probe. Around 4:30, once the wall at San's natural is complete, he moves out with a zealot and a probe. He generally clears both watchtowers with the MSC while warping in a pylon close to the zerg's third. Once his probe plants the initial pylon (which he can get very close to the third), it will swing around to the other side of the map and hide another pylon. The second pylon allows San to hit from multiple locations or swing around and attack at a different angle if he wants to (in one game versus Hydra, it outright won him the game). San cuts probes briefly in between his first and second warpin, then resumes production afterwards.

If his opponent finishes ling speed early, San will wait for his second warpin before attacking. Against roaches, he splits up his zealots to individually attack and uses time warp to prevent the roaches/queens from kiting. The purpose of this build is to snipe the third, Almost every time San has used this build, he has managed to snipe the third.

The wall + sentry is strong enough to hold any ling counterattacks. If San senses a ling attack incoming, he will use his very early warp gate to warp in reinforcements at home while still warping in zealots.

To followup, San normally takes his natural gases and goes for a robo into a two-immortal all-in. If he snipes the third, this pressure is especially powerful as it hits shortly after the hatchery completes and the zerg player wants to drone again. In addition, it forces the zerg player to amass units off of two hatcheries instead of three. The immortal all-in followup is somewhat akin to Dear's Immortal All-in PvZ. In a couple of cases, San follows up with a stargate and gears up to take a third. Again, in this situation, he's done so much damage by sniping the third that he can comfortably take an expansion while parrying all roach/ling attacks with void rays and zealots.

The downside to this build is that it's very recognizable. It's very cleverly disguised as a normal expansion build, but it's very easy for the zerg player to spot the chronoboost on warp gate and scout the probe moving out across the map to build a pylon. The protoss player also stays on one gas, which is easily scoutable. The best response to this build has generally been just building a few extra lings at 5:00 and sniping the probe/pylon before the pressure even gets started.

Overall, this is a transitional build that can allow the protoss player to get ahead in economy by investing in some early zealot pressure. It's perfectly viable to follow up with almost anything after this pressure: robo all-in, robo expand, stargate expand, blink all-in, DTs, etc. Hope this was enjoyed! Happy zealoting!



_
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Jer99
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Canada8159 Posts
December 29 2013 08:31 GMT
#2
so that's the sangate you were talking about!

Poor Hydra getting sangated twice in a row, but what a brilliant move killing your own hatchery for the broodlings
StrategyTaeJa #1 || @TL_Jer99 || "seeker seeked out his seeking"
tar
Profile Joined October 2010
Germany991 Posts
December 29 2013 10:27 GMT
#3
It's always funny how the game developes in cycles: Expand into 4 gate zealot is such an old concept. It gets popular, is super successful and then zergs adapt and it fails miserably most of the time. Then no one uses it, zergs don't account for it any longer and the 4 gate comes back. The cycle continues.

Gonna give it a shot on ladder.
whoever I pick for my anti team turns gosu
Qwyn
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States2781 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-29 10:58:49
December 29 2013 10:53 GMT
#4
Oh my god first 4 zealots hit at 6:15 instead of 6:45? What...the...fuck...god damn that's really depressing.
Oh my god this timing seems unstoppable...thanks for making my worst fear even more scarring...holy shit. Seven/eight zealots by 6:50 instead of 5...

God damn.

The scariest thing is that this looks like a three gate at the wall O_O.
"Think of the hysteria following the realization that they consciously consume babies and raise the dead people from their graves" - N0
justnny
Profile Joined October 2010
United States171 Posts
December 30 2013 15:05 GMT
#5
Thank you for the summary. I'm going to try it now!
Yamato
Profile Joined February 2010
United States33 Posts
December 30 2013 17:14 GMT
#6
Are there any probe cuts in this build? Also, do you keep building probes even after you are warping in zealots?
ETisME
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
12818 Posts
December 30 2013 17:28 GMT
#7
i hate this push soooooooooo much, it's like zerg rush, except a billion times stronger and the 'lings' don't die
其疾如风,其徐如林,侵掠如火,不动如山,难知如阴,动如雷震。
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
December 30 2013 17:43 GMT
#8
On December 31 2013 02:14 Yamato wrote:
Are there any probe cuts in this build? Also, do you keep building probes even after you are warping in zealots?


I mention it briefly in the summary, but San usually continues probe production during this pressure, doing only a slight cut between the first and second warpin. I imagine he also probably stops when he reaches full saturation at his natural (24/24, no gases).
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Yamato
Profile Joined February 2010
United States33 Posts
December 30 2013 18:09 GMT
#9
On December 31 2013 02:43 SC2John wrote:
I mention it briefly in the summary, but San usually continues probe production during this pressure, doing only a slight cut between the first and second warpin. I imagine he also probably stops when he reaches full saturation at his natural (24/24, no gases).


Ah cool, I missed that - thanks! Sounds like an excellent aggressive option that I'll have to try out. Thanks for the excellent guide!
hellokitty[hk]
Profile Joined June 2009
United States1309 Posts
December 30 2013 19:49 GMT
#10
On December 29 2013 19:53 Qwyn wrote:
The scariest thing is that this looks like a three gate at the wall O_O.

No, actually it looks like an obvious 4 gate at the wall unless you hide your gateways.
People are imbeciles, lucky thing god made cats.
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
December 30 2013 19:57 GMT
#11
On December 31 2013 04:49 hellokitty[hk] wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 29 2013 19:53 Qwyn wrote:
The scariest thing is that this looks like a three gate at the wall O_O.

No, actually it looks like an obvious 4 gate at the wall unless you hide your gateways.


Well, for some maps you only need 2 gates to complete the wall (i.e. Frost, Yeonsu, Polar Night, MAYBE Bel'Shir if you include your initial pylon in the wall). So yeah, obviously it works better on maps like that .
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
CrankTV Team League
11:00
Crank Gathers S4: Playoffs
LiquipediaDiscussion
Escore
10:00
Season 3 Week 5
escodisco2323
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SortOf 239
ProTech67
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 31955
Calm 7853
Horang2 2709
Jaedong 824
Shuttle 709
BeSt 406
Mini 406
firebathero 332
Zeus 294
Soulkey 198
[ Show more ]
Larva 197
EffOrt 188
Stork 187
Leta 182
Snow 158
Mong 144
Soma 111
Mind 104
Rush 92
ZerO 88
Sharp 76
Pusan 76
JYJ 67
JulyZerg 63
hero 46
ToSsGirL 40
Sexy 27
Bale 27
ZergMaN 22
scan(afreeca) 20
Sacsri 20
Sea.KH 19
sSak 18
sorry 15
Barracks 15
Noble 5
actioN 0
Dota 2
Gorgc4685
XcaliburYe75
canceldota41
Counter-Strike
shoxiejesuss1302
kRYSTAL_3
Other Games
gofns12541
B2W.Neo567
XBOCT347
Lowko319
Fuzer 237
DeMusliM179
Pyrionflax155
crisheroes140
Liquid`LucifroN88
Mew2King54
ZerO(Twitch)12
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV418
League of Legends
• Jankos1182
• Stunt541
Upcoming Events
Big Brain Bouts
4h 28m
Spirit vs sOs
GgMaChine vs Percival
Serral vs MaxPax
OSC
10h 58m
Replay Cast
12h 28m
Afreeca Starleague
16h 28m
RSL Revival
21h 28m
ByuN vs SHIN
Solar vs Lambo
WardiTV Summer Champion…
23h 28m
Afreeca Starleague
1d 16h
RSL Revival
1d 21h
Clem vs Serral
herO vs Rogue
WardiTV Summer Champion…
2 days
WardiTV Weekly
2 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
PiGosaur Cup
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
The PondCast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-07-30
SCTL 2026 Spring
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale

Ongoing

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
Escore Tournament S3: W5
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026

Upcoming

ASL Season 22: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 22: Qualifier #2
K-JUNGMAN
Acropolis #5
Escore Tournament S3: W6
Escore Tournament S3: W7
Escore Tournament S3: W8
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
PiG Sty Festival 8.0
Light Tournament 2026
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
Logitech G Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.